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On Trans Day of Remembrance, held on Nov. 20, the Tyler-area trans community came together at Bergfeld Park to remember those lost to violence.

Pineywoods Queers organizer Lexi Mae Woods, 27, read the names of trans people who died since the last Trans Day of Remembrance.

Woods has been coming to Trans Day of Remembrance since transitioning. After Woods realized they were trans, she began transitioning in 2021. She wants the queer and trans community to know they are not alone.

“There’s strength in community,” Woods said. “You’re not alone. There’s always someone like you, maybe just around the corner and you don’t know. Don’t let the hate scare you, if we preemptively hide ourselves, well, then the people spreading the hate win anyway.”

Since 2013, 372 trans and gender-expansive people have lost their lives due to violence. In 2023, 36 trans and gender-expansive people died because of violence, according to the Human Rights campaign.

Seven out of 10 people killed were people of color. 61% of those deaths are Black transgender women, according to the HRC.

The vigil is traditionally held at Bergfeld Park because in 1993 Nicholas West, a gay man, was kidnapped from the park and murdered. At the park, there is a plaque commemorating him. It reads: “We will remember.”

The names read included Nex Benedict, an Oklahoma indigenous nonbinary teen, who died after a fight in a school bathroom. In February, the Tyler community held a vigil in his memory.

On the first filing day for the Texas House Legislature, there were 32 bills targeting trans and LGBTQ+ communities, according to Woods.

“(They’re) directly targeting me, my friends and those like me, targeting our lives,” Woods said. “That’s just here. The rest of the country is about to get a lot more of that.”

In 2023, there were 510 anti-LGBTQ+ bills. Of those, 88 bills passed restricting gender-affirming care for minors and access to public bathrooms among and more, according to the ACLU.

“When I point out to people what’s being said, what’s being done, most people, they just deny it because they don’t see it, because they’re not paying attention, because they they hear the same old buzzwords talking about bathrooms and sports, which are very just a vehicle to introduce hate into our legislation. And it doesn’t end,” Woods said.

After the Nov. 5 presidential election, many experienced complex emotions. After the results, vigil organizers expected a smaller turnout for the vigil due to the anxiety the community faces. For some, the election solidified they would have to leave Texas. For many, being aware of the news can be overwhelming.

“I don’t think people realize how much of our privilege it is to not talk about politics, to be able to not have a stake in it,” Easterling said. “But I’m … sick of — I know way too many names of politicians. I wish I didn’t have to know these people. I wish I never knew their names. I wish I didn’t have to be aware of all the stuff that they want to do.”

Woods, who is also a parent, plans to stay in Texas. They are sad to see more and more of their friends leave. 

“I wouldn’t be where I’m at today without the queer community,” Woods said. “It has done so much for me … and I know the same is hopefully true for queer communities across the country.”

For the trans community, having people to lean on and hope is important. One attendee finds hope in the idea trans people will continue to exisit and have always existed.

“They can’t kill all of us. And even if they were to kill every single trans person alive on the planet, as long as there are humans on this planet, there will be trans people that are humans,” said Valerie Easterling, 25, who came to the vigil from Fruitvale with her partner and fiancée Tristan Cowley, 23.

Tyler resident Quinn Adams, 26, came to the vigil because she wanted community. This was her first time coming out to an LGBTQ+ event since moving to Tyler two years ago.

“There’s community out there for anyone who is looking, for anybody who feels like they’ve been abandoned by their families. There’s family out there for you,” Adams said.